Having faith in God’s goodness and perfect plan can be very difficult in the midst of addiction. Many struggling addicts find themselves asking questions like, “Where is God in all of this?” and “Why would a perfect God create me to be so flawed?” These are natural thoughts when one is caught up in the despair of addiction because addiction is not from God. Addiction entered humanity when we declared our independence from God, giving the enemy a foothold into our lives. This is why we experience feelings of brokenness and shame over addiction, and constantly wish there was a way out of it.
The feeling of brokenness one goes through during addiction can be devastating. There are few other conditions that inspire such profound despair within a person. This is because it is very difficult to find your way out of addiction once you are in its clutches. The longer you entertain it, the harder it is to break away from. No two cases of addiction are the same. Some addicts are surprisingly functional, holding jobs, raising children and staying active, while others are consumed by it and may become homeless and isolated. In both situations, there are people who consciously decide they cannot defeat their addiction and surrender all hope of recovery. This always comes with feelings of shame, which the addict chooses to live with.
Even addicts who yield their lives to their addiction want a way out of it. Even if it is more subconscious than conscious after many years of struggle, an addict never stops wishing for recovery. This is because addiction is a prison sentence – a cruel and controlling master – and it is natural to crave freedom from it. It is also natural to wonder why God does not do something about addiction, but the same person must also ask themselves if they have given God control of their life so that he can make change happen within it. God will work miracles in a person’s life, but a person’s life is still their own to mislead if they have not surrendered it to God.
